


The Apple Tree

by Lovelyla



Series: Tangled ties of the ABO boyz [2]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Family, Growing Up, Insecurity, Multi, No beta we die like mne
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-30
Updated: 2019-10-30
Packaged: 2021-01-13 10:43:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,596
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21242798
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lovelyla/pseuds/Lovelyla
Summary: Okay, so this is kind of a spin-off. I just couldn't get older Lotor out of my head while trying to write. It jumps into the future but doesn't have any big spoilers. Just about Lotor out here trying to do his best to make his dads proud.





	The Apple Tree

Lotor looked at himself in the mirror. His skin was a deeper shade of purple and damp with sweat. He reached over for the bottle of pills but paused when he noticed the extended claws on his shaking hand. He loathed the sight of it. He balled his hand into a fist, claws biting into his palm. 

“Yo, Lotor you in here?” Al called from the bedroom.

“Uno momento.”Lotor quickly snatched the bottle off the shelf and unscrewed the top. He got a few pills into his palm before the bathroom door slammed open. The surprise jerk of his hand sent the pills scattering across the bathroom.

“Knew you were up to no good.” Al leaned against the door frame with their arms folded.

“Damnit, Al.” Lotor hissed as he popped a pill into his mouth and tried to salvage the other ones.

“Papa Lance know your back on the suppressants?”

“I don’t have to tell my dads everything. I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself.” 

The look on Al’s face was one they’d learned well from having Pidge as a parent. The look that said ‘you’re being dumb. You know it and I know it. But since you’re determined to continue judgment is all I have to offer.’ “The Quintiz feast you threw up on last week would disagree.” 

Lotor’s stomach twisted at the mention of it but he didn’t let it show. Instead, he straightened and wiped the sweat off his forehead. When turned to finally face the tan-skinned beta he shot them a charming smile. “Which is why I adjusted and went off of them for a while.”

Al rolled their eyes. “A few days doesn’t make up for you avoiding your rut for the past few years.”

Lotor’s smile shrank slightly but he placed his hands on Al’s hips and moved closer. “I love that you care so much, Allie bear,” He turned them and slipped past them out of the bathroom, “But seeing as you’re a beta and have never been forced to become a slave of you’re biology you can’t really tell me how to handle mine.” His tone was snappier than he could have like but the raging alpha was still too close to the surface. 

Al, never one to back down, narrowed their eyes and took a step closer. “Then maybe you should talk to someone who does understand. Like. Your. Dad.” 

Lotor frowned at the start of a familiar argument. Shiro was the example of the perfect alpha and everything that Lotor aspired to be. Even during his ruts, he remained calm and level headed. He treated both of his husbands as equals with the respect they deserved. 

“I can’t,” Lotor said.

“Then what about my parents? They’re alpha’s too.”

“Definitely not.”

“Why not?” 

His eyes fell to the ground. How could he go to his father and tell him that the son he loved so much was nothing more than a weak-willed knothead? That rage and sexual desires overpowered him during his ruts to the point that he couldn’t think clearly. How would they look at him when they realized he barely had enough will power to push through? What if...what if Papa looked at him and couldn’t help but to see the family they’d been cursed with instead of the one they’d chosen?

Allura, Pidge and Shiro were all examples of perfect alphas. Lotor was far from it.

“I just can’t,” Lotor repeated.

Al let out a sigh. “I don’t get you sometimes. You try so hard to make it seem like your not trying at all. Like how you’ve got everyone calling you this swordmaster prodigy.  
Everyone’s talking about how much of a natural you are like you just woke up like this. ‘His dads are fighters so of course, he’d be one too’. No one outside of the castle knows the hours of training you put in. I’m the only one who knows you use the key hack to sneak in for late-night sessions. It’s okay to admit that this shit takes effort.” “They think it’s because of birth heritage,” Lotor said.

“I know, I just said that. Lance might have passed along his pretty boy genes but it’s stupid to think its all genetic. Heck, when we started out I was a much better sharpshooter than you.”

“Not that heritage. They said it’s because of my galra side. Said I’ve got conqueror in my blood and they should be happy someone with that savage hostile nature is on their side this time around.”

Al’s white brow furrowed and their dark brown eyes narrowed. “Who said that? I’ll show them what a savage hostile nature really looks like.”  
Looking at Al reminded him of when they were kids and they bite a bloody mark into another kid’s leg for calling Lotor a rude name. At the time Lotor was ten and mature enough to let it slide but the five-year-old half altean had been on the kid quicker than anyone could blink. Remembering how much the younger Al had clung to him made him smile.

“You can’t beat up every rude person I run into,” Lotor said.

“I’m also not against a good hacking that depletes all their funds and exposes all their dirty secrets to the public.” 

“Pretty sure that’ll make Pidge cut off your computer access again.”

“A nice game of cyber cat and mouse is how we get most of our parental child bonding.”

Lotor shook his head. Now that the suppressants were in his system he could feel himself returning back to normal. His stomach was unsettled but otherwise, his mood and physical responses seemed stable. Talking to Al showed him that his reactions had been over the top. Hearing the senators talk about him like that after he and his family had done so much to stop the civil war they started had been triggered him. He let his emotions get the best of him but it was something that had been building for a while. 

“So who were they?” Al asked again. They could be distracted but rarely forgot to circle back around to their initial inquiry.

Lotor shrugged. “Doesn’t matter. Their not the first and they won’t be the last. People look at me and hear the stories. It’s pretty clear whose blood I’ve got running through me.”

Al rolled their eyes again. “People are dumb.” 

“People have suffered generations of oppression. Can’t blame them for reacting like that.” 

“It’s not like you haven’t been hurt by them as well.”

Lotor looked away from them again. “My dads remember more than me. I was young.” 

“And traumatized.”

Lotor shot them a look. “Al.”

Al held up their hands. “Right don’t talk about the past or the effects of witnessed abuse and kidnapping.” 

Lotor honestly didn’t remember much of those years. He was rather young when Lance escaped the galra and though galra were known for their memory he was half-human. As for the kidnapping that happened later the fact that he’d been drugged had factored into his distorted memory. 

“The point is that it happened and it’s over. I came back here to take some medicine because alpha rage and peace negotiations don’t mix. If it makes you feel better I have every intention of cutting down my dosages once this week passes,” Lotor said.

“Promise?” There was a vulnerability in their eyes when they asked that made Lotor curse internally. Now he would have to keep his word half-hearted words. Honestly, Lotor didn’t see what the big deal was. Tons of people were on suppressants. Maybe not at the same dosage or as long as he was but as his father’s son and a member of the team he couldn’t afford to make mistakes. 

Still, when Al looked at him like that it was hard to tell them no. 

“Promise,” Lotor sighed.

“Great!” Al’s smile was as bright and beautiful as their mother’s, “I’d hate to have to get no only your dads but Coran involved. Sure he’d looove something new to fuss over.” 

Lotor picked up one of the pillows from his bed and tossed it at Al’s head. “I’ll assume you burst into my room for a reason other than invading my privacy?”

“Meeting in ten. Mom’s got something big she wants to go over with everyone.”

“No point in wasting any more time here.” Lotor held out his hand and Al placed their callous palm in his. Al’s hands were larger than his purple slender ones but they fit together nicely. Al’s skin color was closer to papa’s and they kept their blunt nails short. Lotor wished he had hands like those.

When they were younger Al was always reaching out to grab onto his hand that now as they walked hand and hand down the hall he barely though much of it. Al pressed closer and their soft sage scent filled the air around them. 

As much as he loved Shiro and wanted to be like him Lotor couldn’t help but think that maybe things would have been easier if he’d presented as something else.

Careful of that one. Father like son I always say. The words of the senator floated back to him. He hoped and prayed that three of the best dads that the universe had to offer could make up for one really awful one. He wanted to believe that he was nothing like the alpha who sired him but every time he caught a glimpse of his reflection he felt a hint of doubt.


End file.
